Interim Business Solutions » Blog

Promote Your Business With Social Media

Kirsty Wilson — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:15:33 +0000

I’ll be one of three presenters at the Camberwell Business Social Media forum on Thursday, 30 May 2013 from 5.30pm to be held at St John’s Anglican Church, 552 Burke Road, Camberwell VIC.

Social media is now a critical marketing tool for business, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Find out which social media platform is best for your business as the panel discuss how to effectively set up and use social media to reach wider audiences.

Sue Ellson, Founder & Director of Newcomers Network and Global Mobility Network, consults to a variety of individuals and businesses on social media, marketing, networking and websites.

Megan Barrow, Director of JoElla Marketing. Megan’s skills lie in building individualised marketing strategies based on listening to the needs and passions of business owners.

Kirsty Wilson, owner & founder of Interim Business Solutions. Commencing as a business administration support service in 2005, Interim Business Solutions has evolved to include social media support and a range pf other services for the time-poor business owner and the solopreneur.

The event will start at 5:30pm with general networking and then from 6:00pm – 7:00pm, there will be an interactive business forum with questions and answers followed by more networking until 7:30pm.

Refreshments will be provided. Camberwell Centre Association members may attend free of charge. Anyone else interested in attending can register and pay online by ‘Register Here’ for ($20). I also have 4 complimentary tickets, so if you’re in the area and interested in attending, drop me a line!

Get Rocking With Our Social Media Set Up and Social Media Support Guides

Kirsty Wilson — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:45:14 +0000

Our ‘Social Media Set Up Guide’ and ‘Social Media Support Guide’ have proven to be extremely popular over the years. We initially developed these back in 2009, when after setting up our client’s social media accounts, they then required support. After a number of emails with ‘How do I do…?’ and ‘Where can I find…?’ I realised a support guide would be beneficial for both my client and myself! And so these guides were created and are now included in all social media set-up packages and available to purchase from our website.

The Social Media Set Up Guide was also printed by Business Victoria to include in the show bag of goodies at the ‘Small Business Big Marketing’ festival back in August 2011. Business Victoria printed 2,000 of which were quickly snapped up and I have since had many inquiries for more hard copies but explain they were printed by Business Victoria for the festival only. Maybe they ought to consider a reprint for the forthcoming festival during August 2013!

As you can appreciate, these social media guides are a constant work in progress to keep up with the changing landscape that social media and technology brings to each platform. Keeping up with the constant changes of Facebook alone keeps me busy! Of course, since creating these guides when Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn were the big three, new comers have appeared and proving to be big players. These include Instagram, Pinterest and Google Plus. Adding these social media platforms to the guides now must be considered.

What you will find in the Social Media Set Up Guide:

Step by step instructions how to set up and optimise your Twitter Account, Facebook Page and LinkedIn account
Ideas of what to post
Suggestions how to manage your accounts including Twitter housekeeping
Tips how to network and find your target audience, and
The Support Guide is included within the Set Up Guide.

The main purpose of the Social Media Set Up and Social Media Support Guides is to assist the time poor business owner to set up and get a grip of social media without having to do the research. It’s all here!

Businesses Who Would Benefit From Engaging a Virtual Assistant

Kirsty Wilson — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:30:01 +0000

We work with a variety of business owners. Most are consultants going it alone and others are owners of small businesses in a variety of industries including, accounting practices, focus group facilitators, steel fabricators, mortgage brokers, bookkeepers, jewellers, marketing agencies, printers and geotechnicians to name a few.

Whatever they do, they have discovered the world of outsourcing to a virtual assistant, generally because they are too busy to do it themselves, and their business structure does not have a highly skilled administration person within their business. A reminder that ‘outsourcing’ does not mean off-shoring. There are many highly skilled Australian virtual assistants.

Here is an outline of the types of clients we love to work with. We could be a great fit if this sounds like you!

• You are a busy, successful consultant or small business owner
• You want to partner with someone you can trust and rely on
• You are a strong communicator
• You are organised and internet/tech-savvy
• You are gracious and see us as a partner in your business
• You are open to new ideas and would value our skills and experience

Here are some situations in which we are especially well-equipped to assist you! Does one or more of these describe you?

• You are a consultant and need assistance with your business administration
• You are a small business owner and have discovered the value of social media but just don’t have the time to do it all yourself
• You are an entrepreneur who is too bogged down in administration to actually work on developing your own business
• You are a successful working mum wanting to find more balance between career and family

Engaging a Virtual Assistant may not be right for you if:

• You have a tough time delegating work
• You like to micromanage and need to be the ‘boss’
• You aren’t open to new ideas or ways of doing business
• You don’t consider yourself internet/tech-savvy
• You can’t shift to seeing a Virtual Assistant as a partner in your business
• You aren’t billing your own time at a higher rate than ours!

When we are not the right fit

On receiving an inquiry we interview potential clients thoroughly and encourage the potential client to also ask questions. This allows for us both to get a feel for each other and decide if we would like to commence a ‘virtual’ working relationship.

During this process, if it seems like working with a Virtual Assistant seems like a good fit for you, but we don’t ‘click’ or your requirements are beyond our current capacity, we are happy to refer you to another Virtual Assistant within our network who might be a better fit and/or have the capacity.

There will always be some business owners who won’t benefit from what a Virtual Assistant can offer and that’s okay, as it’s not going to be for everyone.

If you would like to learn more about our virtual services, visit our Services Page or drop us an email with your query. You can expect a prompt response!

Webinar: Manage Your Contacts, Sales Opportunities and Business Forecasts

Kirsty Wilson — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:45:35 +0000

To meet today’s economic challenges, it is vital to rely on every possible avenue to search for new clients and contacts and even more important to manage them in the best possible way. Technology is a good enabler for finding new contacts and for building and managing them. Join us for this webinar when Joseph Bega will cover:

What is CRM and do I need it?
How can CRM assist me? (including device integration, improving relationship management, increasing ffectiveness/productivity, and incorporating marketing processes)
CRM-related statistics
Success stories

Speaker: Joseph Bega – Business Success Gate

Friday 19 April 2013 at 1.00pm AEDT

Join the Alliance for Virtual Businesses (A4VB) – Australian Chapter at our monthly Webinars. Webinars take place on the third Friday of each month usually at 1.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Keep up to date and join the A4VB Australia Facebook Page where all events and webinars are listed.

Source: A4VB Australian Chapter

Business Victoria’s Mobile Business Centre

Kirsty Wilson — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:15:03 +0000

I’ve been aware of the Mobile Business Centre operated by Business Victoria for some time and have always been slightly curious about its offerings. So when I recently learned it was coming to the nearby suburb of Olinda, this local virtual assistant decided to register and see what it was all about. The Mobile Business Centre is delivered by Small Business Victoria, in collaboration with the Small Business Mentoring Service (SBMS).

Prior to my appointment, I received an email from the allocated mentor, requesting the following dot points were answered to give them some background information of my business and where I was at;

At what stage is your business (just starting, expanding, stuck, etc)
What you would like to achieve
What roadblocks are you experiencing

I knew immediately the answers to these queries! I am stuck… at not knowing what I am really wanting to achieve with my business. I know I am turning away opportunities due to capacity. So I am lacking clarity and vision as to how I move to the next level. Even with the team growing to meet the demand, this creates its own issues. Someone still needs to manage what the team does!

You are granted a 45 mins free mentoring session of which I was fortunate to have extended to an hour due to an unbooked session immediately after mine. During this hour we talked in depth about the lack of clarity and vision I have and a good starting point is to set some SMART objectives for the next 12 month period. SMART objectives being;

S – Specific
M – Measureable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

Next is to set the activities required in order to achieve the set objectives. This will form my plan and then it’s about getting to work and implementing the plan. I have to say the hour session was an excellent service Business Victoria offer and I would highly recommend it to any small business owner who needs a little guidance in any area of their business.

So, we’ll see where I am at in 12 months time, after I have set some objectives, determined the activities and worked the plan. Stay tuned!

Have you ever engaged a mentor or business coach? Share your experiences, I’d love to hear!

Text Speak in Tweets. A Big ‘No, No’ For Business!

Kirsty Wilson — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:15:22 +0000

I am noticing more and more people are becoming sloppy with their tweets and I am talking about professionals who should know better! Yes, the numbers have grown considerably with the younger generation migrating from Facebook to Twitter where they feel they aren’t being monitored by their parents and you see the text speak… ‘I heart you Justin Bieber 4 eva’.

Of course business people aren’t tweeting this sort of subject matter but they are still trying to cram too much into the 140 character space and they will do anything to achieve this. The shortening of too many words leaves the reader trying to un-code the tweet and it really does look sloppy and unprofessional.

Here’s some recent samples I’ve come across (tweaked slightly to protect the creator!) but shared to give you an idea of what I consider to be a big ‘no, no’ when you are representing your business and brand;

Get the drift? It just looks sloppy.

I will confess, I am guilty of shortening words if I happen to RT a tweet that is too long but I am mindful that I do not want to rehash the creators tweet too much, after-all that may reflect on them! If the RT requires too much rehashing – the retweet does not happen. So there’s a lesson here also, keep your valuable tweets under 120chars to allow for ease of retweeting without others having to rehash it!

So, do take a little time to create your tweets. Remember they are public and the aim is to impress your connections for whatever the reason it is you’re using Twitter… especially if it’s for business!

Webinar: Narrow Your Niche to Build a Bigger Business

Kirsty Wilson — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:00:16 +0000

Are you wondering if, when, why and how you should choose a niche? I’m sharing my secrets and answering all your questions including, when you should determine a niche, how to select the one that works best for you and why a niche can help you build a bigger business. I’ll cover the ways that focusing on a specific niche can make you the BIG income you’ve always wanted and help you close the sale more often with new prospects. Discover how pin-pointing your niche can win you more of the best clients and turn you into a VA with a waiting list!

Speaker: Lisa McDonell – The Brainy Gal

Friday 15 March 2013 at 1.00pm AEDT

Keep up to date and join the A4VB Australia Facebook Page where all events and webinars are listed.

Source: A4VB Australian Chapter

TEDx Talk by Dan Pink

Kirsty Wilson — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:15:32 +0000

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories – and maybe, a way forward.

8 Reasons Why I May Choose Not to Return the Follow on Twitter

Kirsty Wilson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:10:54 +0000

I have been on Twitter long enough (Dec 2008) to have 8 clear reasons why I choose not to return the follow of many new followers. For me, social media has never been about collecting numbers but more about ‘relationships marketing‘. After all, it is “social” media and I have found it’s the social element that has worked in making you memorable!

So, here’s my 8 reasons why I may not return the follow;

1. Your Avatar and Bio
I will not follow if there is no avatar or Bio. I want to know something about you!

2. A Foreign Language
I will not follow if your posts are not in English. I need to be able to understand & communicate with you!

3. Continual Boring Tweets
There needs to be some interesting posts present on your stream. I don’t want to see verbose & trivial.

4. Engaging and Social
There needs to be evidence of interaction with other users. Twitter is all about relationship building.

5. Not So Social Salesperson!
If you have under 5 posts with a huge number that you’re ‘following’, more than likely you are trying to sell me something.

6. Collecting Numbers Only
Unless you are a ‘leader’ in your field with a following of 20,000+, I will not return the follow. There will be minimal interaction!

7. A Private Twitter Account? Huh?
If you set your profile to ‘private’, it goes against what Twitter is all about.

8. Spamming on Twitter
If it is blatant ‘spam’, I will not follow you but I WILL block you and report you to @spam

If you fulfill these requirements and have a link to a website where I can learn even more about you, the chances are, I will return the follow.

If you would like to connect on Twitter and we aren’t already, you can find me over at @kirsty_wilson Come and tweet with me!

Webinar: 10 Things You’ll Never Say Again with the Cloud

Kirsty Wilson — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:15:31 +0000

Do you work from multiple locations, pay for individual solutions or constantly chasing technology? As technology changes it may not be immediately obvious how it can affect your business or how to gain a benefit. Make life easier for yourself, in your organisation to collaborate, communicate and share information securely. Join our webinar and learn how to benefit from the cloud.

Content:

Brief introduction
What is cloud?
What are the benefits & risks?
10 things …
Short demo on Google+ and Social Search
Q&A

Speaker: Laco Vosika – Be Cloud Smart

Friday 15 February 2013 at 1.00pm AEDT

Keep up to date and join the A4VB Australia Facebook Page where all events and webinars are listed.

Source: A4VB Australian Chapter